What are the four types of Christmas?

Four Kinds of Christmas explores four approaches to the festive season: Scrooge, Shopper, Santa and Stable.

What is the real history of Christmas?

The origins of Christmas stem from both the pagan and Roman cultures. The Romans actually celebrated two holidays in the month of December. The first was Saturnalia, which was a two-week festival honoring their god of agriculture Saturn. On December 25th, they celebrated the birth of Mithra, their sun god.

What symbolizes Christmas?

The crimson shade of red associated with Christmas symbolizes the blood that was shed by Jesus Christ during His crucifixion. The color green—the hue of evergreen plants like pine trees, holly and mistletoe that retain their leaves throughout the winter—represents Jesus Christ's everlasting life.

When did modern Christmas start?

Christmas was not a legal holiday in any of the states until the 1830s, and was not declared an official federal holiday in America until the 1870s. Prior to this time it was not celebrated with the same fervor as we are accustomed to. When the Puritans settled here, they did not bring Christmas traditions with them.

When was Jesus actually born?

The date of birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any historical sources, but most biblical scholars generally accept a date of birth between 6 BC and 4 BC, the year in which King Herod died.

Four Kinds of Christmas

What was Christmas originally called?

First called the Feast of the Nativity, the custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century.

What are the five symbols of Christmas?

What does Christmas mean in the Bible?

Because Christmas is about the birth of God's Son – Jesus. It is about how he came to give us love, hope and joy. That message doesn't change from year to year. When there is so much bad news and devastation in the world, this is good news worth celebrating!

Why do we hang socks on Christmas?

A Christmas stocking is an empty sock or sock-shaped bag that is hung on Saint Nicholas Day or Christmas Eve so that Saint Nicholas (or the related figures of Santa Claus and Father Christmas) can fill it with small toys, candy, fruit, coins or other small gifts when he arrives.

What is the dark history of Christmas?

From ancient times, the season that we now know as Christmas was a midwinter celebration called The Winter Solstice, or Yule. A pagan festival, The Winter Solstice was a time to celebrate the fact that the worst of winter was over, and the people could look forward to longer days with more sunlight in the near future.

Who created Santa Claus?

Much earlier, the American cartoonist Thomas Nast fashioned Santa Claus's image on the pages of the American magazine Harper's Weekly. The character of Santa Claus is believed to descend from Bishop Nicholas of Myra, who lived in the 4^th century.

Why does Santa wear red?

Some have suggested there was a link with the iconography of the original St Nicholas, who is often depicted in red robes, but more likely is that it just felt aesthetically right, chiming with the rosy-cheeked, red-nosed Santa of the poem, and with the red outfit playing off the whiteness of the fur, beard and snow – ...

Why does Santa put oranges in stockings?

They're said to represent a gift of gold from Saint Nicholas

The father eventually found out who the gift giver was and was so moved he told everyone in town about Nicholas. This was not only the origin of Santa Claus but also one reason for oranges—which represent bags of gold—in our stockings.

What is Santa called in Hawaii?

Even Santa Claus (Hawaiian: Kanakaloka) himself is not wearing his corporate red and white suit, but has swapped it for flowery Hawaiian clothes. Christmas wreaths are made from the poinsettia plant.

Does Christmas exist in the Bible?

Dec. 25 is not the date mentioned in the Bible as the day of Jesus's birth; the Bible is actually silent on the day or the time of year when Mary was said to have given birth to him in Bethlehem. The earliest Christians did not celebrate his birth.

Why was December 25th chosen as the birthday of Jesus?

“The real reason for the selection of Dec. 25 seems to have been that it is exactly nine months after March 25, the traditional date of Jesus' crucifixion. … As Christians developed the theological idea that Jesus was conceived and crucified on the same date, they set the date of his birth nine months later.”

What are 3 traditions of Christmas?

What are the different names for Christmas?

What are the 12 symbols of Christmas?

What is the pagan word for Christmas?

Saturnalia, held in mid-December, is an ancient Roman pagan festival honoring the agricultural god Saturn. Because of when the holiday occurred—near the winter solstice—Saturnalia celebrations are the source of many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas, such as wreaths, candles, feasting and gift-giving.

When was Christmas banned and why?

In 1647, the Puritan-led English Parliament banned the celebration of Christmas, replacing it with a day of fasting and considering it "a popish festival with no biblical justification", and a time of wasteful and immoral behaviour.

How old is Santa?

Exactly how old is Santa? According to the blog Email Santa, Santa Claus is 1,751 years old as of 2022. In fact, the origins of Santa Claus can be traced all the way back to a monk named Saint Nicholas, who was born between 260 and 280 A.D.

Was Santa once blue?

The director of the American Toy Marvel Museum says the blue color was traditional for the German version of St. Nicholas.